The present teachings are predicated upon providing an improved litter device, and specifically an improved automatic litter device. There are numerous different litter box designs available on the market. Many of these designs are manual and require an owner to sift waste from litter so that the litter is cleaned. With these manual designs, owners may forget to clean the waste from the litter and the litter box may become full, may begin to smell, or both. For these reasons and many other, owners have begun to purchase automated litter boxes. Generally, these devices include a portion that holds litter, and a portion that receives waste that is removed from the portion that holds litter so that owner interaction is reduced and the frequency of manual interaction to remove waste is reduced. Many of these devices include a rake that travels along a track and removes waste from the litter. These automated rakes may get stuck, clumps of waste and/or litter may stick to the rake and/or the floor, the rake may become dislodged, the rake may not move the waste all the way out of the portion that holds the litter, or a combination thereof. Other devices rotate and sift the waste from the litter so that the clean litter is retained in the portion that holds the litter and the waste is emptied into the portion that receives the waste. Many of these devices are covered so that dust, smells, litter, or a combination thereof are retained within the litter box. However, covering the litter box reduces the amount of space available for the pet, the amount of light in the litter box, these covers through use may become dirty through contact with waste, or a combination thereof. Further, the cover and/or walls may become contaminated as waste travels along the walls to an exit point such that when an animal subsequently enters the device contaminants from the walls may be transferred to the animal.
Examples of some automated litter boxes may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,096,827; 4,886,014; 5,107,797; 5,662,066; 6,055,935; 6,082,302; 6,126,015; 6,463,881; 6,851,386; 7,198,006; 7,762,231; and 7,647,889; all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
It would be attractive to have a litter device that is covered and provides adequate space for animals so that when inside the animals can move around. It would be attractive to have a litter device that is illuminated so that the animal can see while inside the litter device. It would be attractive for the litter device to prevent transfer of waste remnants to an animal in the litter device. What is needed is a device that is self-contained so that an animal cannot contact any of the moving parts. What is further needed is a device that includes safety devices so that if an animal comes into contact with any parts that may move the device stops so that the animal is prevented from being caught, pinched, injured, or a combination thereof. It would be attractive to have a weight sensor that measures small changes in mass of the device by measuring a small range of forces indirectly